Free Republic

Ole Miss is attracting attention for renaming its annual holiday celebration to make the event more inclusive for members of the university community. "A Grand Ole Christmas," the university's annual campus tree-lighting ceremony, will now be known as "Hotty Toddy Holidays," according to Kay P Maye, who handles special events for the Student Activities Association

It came down to the addition of a single word for the a tree lighting ceremony, but that word carried enough significance for borough Councilwoman Charlene Storey to resign. Minutes after the council voted 4-2 Thursday night to change the name of the ceremony from A Tree Lighting to A Christmas Tree Lighting, the councilwoman-at-large, left the meeting. She later submitted her letter of resignation with the municipal clerk's office. "I cannot in good conscience continue to be part of a council that is exclusionary or to work with a Mayor who is such," Storey said in her letter. When...

After more than three decades and five administrations, “Christmas in Washington,” the celebrity-packed holiday special attended by the first family, won’t be returning for its 34th holiday season. No, the Grinch didn’t have anything to do with it — at least we don’t think he did. After last year’s show, hosted by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, TNT announced that it would no longer broadcast the Christmas special, ending a 15-year partnership with veteran producer George Stevens Jr. and his son, Michael. The Stevenses, who had just been ousted as the producers of the Kennedy Center Honors gala, said they were...

Today is the first day of Advent, which marks the start of the pre-Christmas season. It is observed by many, if not most, of the Catholic faithful. And it is in popularity among Protestants, particularly those of us who count ourselves evangelical Christians. Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve. During that four-week period, the Christian faithful prepare for the commemoration of the birth of Christ. Satan hates Advent. That’s because he wants to take the “Christ” out of Christmas. He doesn’t want Christmas to be a Godly “holy-day.” Rather, his aim is to reduce the...

SALEM (WSLS 10) – Christmas trees will not be allowed at the Salem VA Medical Center this holiday season in public areas. “Displays must not promote any religion. Please note that trees (regardless of the types of ornaments used) have been deemed to promote the Christian religion and will not be permitted in any public areas this year,” reads an email sent to employees. “Employees are permitted to engage in private religious expression in their personal work areas that are not regularly open to the public. Religious expression will be permitted as long as it does not interfere with carrying...

My town is going to have a council vote on removing a nativity scene from the central town park. It is only ONE GUY causing all this trouble, and virtually the whole town is against him. He's a trouble-making POS. I've been trying to get to each and every council member, none are giving me any clear answers. The mayor (who is usually a very staunch conservative) is also being cagey. Just wondering what others have experienced... have the rest of you had this in your town, how did your town council vote?

Some Christians have taken to social media channels to protest the new Starbucks holiday cup, which they say is conspicuously devoid of images of both Christmas and Jesus Christ himself. The new cup, which is shades of red with the Starbucks logo, showed up in stores late last month. "Starbucks REMOVED CHRISTMAS from their cups because they hate Jesus," wrote Joshua Feuerstein in a viral Facebook post with nearly 10 million views. In an accompanying video, Feuerstein encourages customers to give their name as "Merry Christmas" to force Starbucks employees to say the phrase. The movement had caught on by...

A Long Island mall swapped Santa's sleigh for something resembling a spaceship and nixed the Christmas tree because it didn't want to "offend" anyone, irate shoppers told The Post. The Roosevelt Field Mall ditched its traditional holiday village and put Ol' Saint Nick inside a winter-themed "glacier" instead. But some say the white and blue display looks more like something out of "Star Trek" than "Twas the Night Before Christmas." "Santa comes along with a decorated tree; he doesn't come with a spaceship," Maria Lovdahl fumed. The Williston Park mother of two was shopping Thursday night when she spotted the...

Traditional Santa photos may become a thing of the past with child protection activists calling for Santa's lap to be off limits to kids for shopping centre Christmas pictures. Bravehearts founder Hetty Johnston has supported the concerns of some worried parents who say that the era of sitting on Santa’s lap has got to come to a close with some kids feeling pressured and forced to participate in the Christmas custom. "The directive would be for children to stand beside, unless parents or children request to sit on his knee," she told the Courier Mail.

It’s funny how we can’t say “Merry Christmas” in America but I guess “Ramadan Kareem” is cool. Read this official statement on Ramadan from B. Hussein Obama and make your own assessment, but I’m quite sure CAIR, ISNA, MAS, MPAC, and the many other Muslim Brotherhood-related organizations appreciate the shout out. After all, Obama administration Homeland Security Advisor Mohammed Elibiary has stated America is an “Islamic country” and our Constitution is “Islamically compliant.” I do find it hilarious that liberal progressives accuse me of (gasp) treason for challenging the policies of Obama – I guess they on the other hand...

From FNC (where there is also video): Boys and girls at Grace Academy in Prosper, Tex., spent most of last Friday making homemade Christmas cards for bedridden veterans at the VA hospital in Dallas. Fourth-grader Gracie Brown was especially proud of her card, hoping it would “make their day because their family might live far away, and they might not have somebody to celebrate Christmas with.” “I’d like them to know they’ve not been forgotten and somebody wanted to say thank you,” Gracie told Gracie’s card read, “Merry Christmas. Thank you for your service.” It also included an American flag....

What's been called the "War on Christmas" is often a case of secular liberals wanting to engage in Christmas denial. In the name of not wanting to offend people of minority faiths (or no faith), they remove the C-word from department store catalogs and Christmas songs from public school concerts, leaving us with lame messages about snow. But there's another kind of Christmas denial: the kind that simply stomps on Christianity as ridiculous and kicks over the nativity set. Take the atheist punk band Bad Religion and its new record of Christmas songs they found "hilarious" to record. Co-founder Brett...

"...The state Department of Management Services has notified a Tallahassee-based group called The Satanic Temple that it won't be allowed to put up a religious-themed poster alongside other holiday displays, including a Nativity scene, and other secular displays that have been put up since the Christian-themed first display was approved in November.... ...The reaction to the nativity scene -- set up by the Florida Prayer Network on Dec. 3 -- drew national attention and barbs from Steve Colbert and Jon Stewart when South Florida political blogger Chaz Stevens responded by stacking up a 6-foot-tall "Festivus" pole made of Pabst Blue...

Today is Christmas Day. Hanukkah ended nine days ago. New Years Day is seven days from now. Yet... for some explicable reason, Google thinks today is "Holidays." In their description of their Christmas day graphic, Google writes "Happy Holidays from Google." Well thanks, Google that's very nice of you. Very inclusive.

Was listening to Fox in the background. A local NYC kids' choir just sang "Winter Wonderland." You know, "In the meadow we will build a snow man, we'll pretend that he is Parson Brown, he'll say 'are you married?' we'll say, 'no, man', but you can do the job when you're in town..." Except, the new words are, "we'll pretend that he's a circus clown..." and subsequent lyrics delete all reference to religion. I find this repellant and just one more move toward making any reference to religion unacceptable. As a Jew I'm not up on Christmas songs, but is...

Residents in Mansfield, Mass. are crying “bah humbug” after the local elementary school cancelled its annual holiday concert and replaced it with a program on anti-bullying. The holiday production at Jordan-Jackson Elementary School has been a long-time tradition in the community. But last year’s performance drew complaints from some parents who objected to the religious nature of the show. Read more: http://www.ktrh.com/pages/michaelberry.html?article=10641237#ixzz2F2neSSAX

Gov. Lincoln Chafee (I-R.I.) told CNSNews.com on Wednesday that his administration calls the decorated evergreen tree erected in the Rhode Island State House in December a “holiday tree”—rather than a “Christmas tree”—because that is what the tree is traditionally called. … But Rhode Island State Rep. Doreen Costa, who has called Chafee “Governor Grinch,” told CNSNews.com that she doesn’t remember Chafee’s predecessor, Gov. (Donald) Carcieri, calling it a “holiday tree”—nor does she recall Carcieri’s predecessor, Gov. (Lincoln) Almond, calling the tree a “holiday tree.” … But Carcieri also referred to it as a “Christmas tree,” she said. … “Governor Chafee,...

The carton below is from Soviet Communist Russian times. You can see how the capitalist system is depicted as slavery - the opposite of how communism works, IE., free money, multiplied and returned to the worker - in the right frame. Tell me Obama does not think differently. And, as many Americans kill off Christmas as the celebration of the birth of Jesus, so the Soviets replaced Saint Nick with "Father Frost" - a man who gives out presents because he is a generous communist. From Wikipedia Ded Moroz "Following the Russian Revolution, Christmas traditions were actively discouraged because they...

Why do some atheists embarrass themselves year after year trying to eradicate Christmas from American culture? Why do they make themselves societal hemorrhoids during this hallowed season? Is it because they are crusaders for equality, secularism’s saviors and humanism’s heroes? I’m sure that’s what they tell themselves when they’re pouting on their couches all alone on Christmas Eve after every single one of their friends has dumped them for being a rabid jackass. I believe, however—and I could be wrong—that the reason some rage against the machine is that they hate God and love their sin, and bringing up Jesus...

Churches are going to federal court to reclaim their freedom of speech after the city of Santa Monica, Calif., decided to end a nearly 60-year tradition of having Christian displays of the nativity in a public park due to an uproar caused by atheists' anti-God signs. Behind the trouble in Santa Monica is a member of the American Atheists, Damon Vix, who applied for and was granted a booth in Palisades Park alongside the nativity display three years ago. He erected a sign quoting Thomas Jefferson: "Religions are all alike -- founded on fables and mythologies." Another sign read, "Happy...